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A review by geothedude
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
3.0
I'm sorry Miki, but you're no ART.
As Murderbot embarks on another adventure apparently to prove that GrayCris is evil, it finds itself meeting another bot more advanced than it expected in Miki. With such a setup (MB having to save a group of humans en route to a place it has to go and meeting another kind of AI more sophisticated than expected), it's hard not to feel more than a few echoes of Artificial Condition. Unfortunately, Artificial Condition introduced the perfect foil to MB in ART which lifts the whole thing up a star. Miki just doesn't have quite the same presence.
Which isn't to say that Miki, the "pet robot" who seems to love its humans and seems to be loved in turn and seems to have a child-like personality, is a bad character, that including it is a bad idea, or that the novella is bad in anyway. It's more Murderbot, and so far, that alone is worth three stars. But it almost feels as though Miki and ART make their appearances in Wells' novellas out of order. I think Miki would have been much more interesting as the first sophisticated AI MB meets and then that this interaction would color the way that it perceives ART. Despite that woulda/shoulda/coulda, it is still an interesting enough story with interesting enough interactions to leave you wanting more (even if it is starting to feel like the series needs a little more direction).
As Murderbot embarks on another adventure apparently to prove that GrayCris is evil, it finds itself meeting another bot more advanced than it expected in Miki. With such a setup (MB having to save a group of humans en route to a place it has to go and meeting another kind of AI more sophisticated than expected), it's hard not to feel more than a few echoes of Artificial Condition. Unfortunately, Artificial Condition introduced the perfect foil to MB in ART which lifts the whole thing up a star. Miki just doesn't have quite the same presence.
Which isn't to say that Miki, the "pet robot" who seems to love its humans and seems to be loved in turn and seems to have a child-like personality, is a bad character, that including it is a bad idea, or that the novella is bad in anyway. It's more Murderbot, and so far, that alone is worth three stars. But it almost feels as though Miki and ART make their appearances in Wells' novellas out of order. I think Miki would have been much more interesting as the first sophisticated AI MB meets and then that this interaction would color the way that it perceives ART. Despite that woulda/shoulda/coulda, it is still an interesting enough story with interesting enough interactions to leave you wanting more (even if it is starting to feel like the series needs a little more direction).